OPPO Photography Awards 2025 concluded in Cairo, Egypt, bringing to a close this year’s global exhibition series that showcased mobile photography from around the world. The finale reflected the growing role of smartphone imaging in documenting everyday life across cultures.
OPPO Photography Awards 2025 conclude global exhibition series in Cairo
The OPPO Photography Awards 2025 concluded with a finale exhibition in Cairo, Egypt, marking the final stop of a year-long global showcase dedicated to mobile photography. The event brought together selected award-winning works from across the world, highlighting how smartphone cameras continue to shape contemporary visual storytelling.
Now in its third year, the OPPO Photography Awards have positioned themselves as one of the most accessible platforms for mobile photography. The 2025 edition attracted nearly two million submissions from 87 countries and regions, reflecting the widespread adoption of smartphones as tools for creative expression. Organisers said the volume and diversity of entries demonstrate how mobile imaging has become embedded in daily life, allowing individuals from varied backgrounds to share their perspectives visually.
Throughout the year, selected photographs from the OPPO Photography Awards 2025 were exhibited in cities including Singapore, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, and Italy. Each exhibition presented local audiences with images that captured shared human experiences, viewed through different cultural and social contexts. The final exhibition in Egypt served as a closing chapter to this international journey, reinforcing the global scope of the programme.
The works displayed in Cairo focused on moments drawn from everyday life. Captured entirely using OPPO smartphones, the images explored themes such as family, work, community, and personal identity. Rather than relying on staged compositions, many photographs reflected spontaneous moments, illustrating how mobile photography enables creators to respond naturally to their surroundings.
Ling Liu, Overseas Chief Marketing Officer of OPPO, said the awards are designed to provide a platform where everyday stories can be shared with wider audiences. She noted that OPPO’s aim is to support creators across different cultures by encouraging the use of mobile cameras as tools for documentation and self-expression. This approach aligns with the company’s broader “Make Your Moment” concept, which focuses on recording real-life experiences as they happen.
The Egypt exhibition was curated around the theme “Super Every Moment,” with an emphasis on authenticity and cultural context. Visitors were presented with images that highlighted subtle emotions and ordinary scenes, demonstrating how mobile photography can capture meaningful details without complex equipment. As the final exhibition of the year, the Cairo event underscored OPPO’s intention to maintain a long-term global platform for mobile imaging.
Alongside the exhibition, a panel discussion was held to examine the role of mobile photography in cultural storytelling. The discussion featured Ling Liu, Norwegian art photographer and Hasselblad Master Tina Signesdottir Hult, and Virginie Heloin, Vice President and Global Head of Brand Solutions at Warner Bros. Discovery. The panel explored how mobile devices have influenced the way stories are created and shared across media platforms.
Participants agreed that smartphone photography has reduced traditional barriers to entry, allowing more people to participate in visual storytelling. As imaging technology continues to improve, mobile devices are increasingly capable of producing images suitable for professional and editorial use. This shift, they said, has changed audience expectations and expanded the range of voices contributing to global visual culture.
The discussion also addressed collaboration across industries, noting that partnerships between technology companies, creative professionals, and media organisations can support emerging creators. By combining expertise in imaging technology, visual aesthetics, and content distribution, such collaborations can help ensure that diverse stories reach broader audiences.
With the conclusion of the OPPO Photography Awards 2025, OPPO reiterated its commitment to mobile imaging as a means of communication and cultural exchange. The company said it will continue investing in camera technology and creator-focused initiatives to support storytelling through smartphones.
As mobile devices remain central to how people document and share their lives, the conclusion of this year’s awards highlights a broader shift in photography. Increasingly, everyday moments captured on smartphones are shaping how stories are told, preserved, and understood across borders.